Irazu Oncology, which is using a platform built by researchers at University of Maryland, Baltimore to develop cancer vaccines, has secured $2.6 million in debt from an undisclosed source, according to a recent listing on Crunchbase.
Founded by Marco A. Chacón, an industry veteran who founded and ran Paragon Bioservices for over two decades, Irazu Oncology is commercializing UMB’s novel immunotherapeutic vaccine technology. It operates out of the University of Maryland BioPark. The company is a winner of TEDCO’s Maryland Innovation Initiative Company Formation Awards.
Novel Approach
Irazu Oncology has a licensing deal with UMB to commercialize a membrane vesicle vaccine development platform built at the university by a research team led by James Galen, Ph. D. The platform uses the outer membrane of vesicles — a structure within or outside a cell — as cancer vaccines that can stimulate an immune response. Irazu Oncology’s proprietary, attenuated bacteria are engineered to produce OMVs bearing tumor antigens on their surface. These antigens are delivered to various sites in the body, stimulating a natural immune system that can destroy cancerous cells.
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